Film Review: "At Eternity's Gate" (2018).

"A Grain of Madness is the Best of Art." This is At Eternity's Gate. This biographical drama film directed by Julian Schnabel, and written by Schnabel, Jean-Claude Carrière and Louise Kugelberg. The film follows famed but tormented artist Vincent van Gogh as he spends his final years in Arles, France, painting masterworks of the natural world that surrounds him.

In 2011, Van Gogh: The Life was published. Its authors Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith challenged the conventional account of the artist's death. Naifeh and Smith argued that it was unlikely for van Gogh to have killed himself, noting the upbeat disposition of the paintings he created immediately preceding his death; furthermore, in private correspondence, van Gogh described suicide as sinful and immoral. The authors also question how van Gogh could have traveled the mile-long (about 2 km) distance between the wheat field and the inn after sustaining the fatal stomach wound, how van Gogh could have obtained a gun despite his well-known mental health problems, and why van Gogh's painting gear was never found by the police. Naifeh and Smith developed an alternative hypothesis in which van Gogh did not commit suicide, but rather was a possible victim of accidental manslaughter or foul play. Naifeh and Smith point out that the bullet entered van Gogh's abdomen at an oblique angle, not straight as might be expected from a suicide. They claim that van Gogh was acquainted with the boys who may have shot him, one of whom was in the habit of wearing a cowboy suit, and had gone drinking with them. Naifeh concluded that "accidental homicide" was "far more likely". The authors contend that art historian John Rewald visited Auvers in the 1930s, and recorded the version of events that is widely believed. The authors postulate that after he was fatally wounded, van Gogh welcomed death and believed the boys had done him a favour, hence his widely quoted deathbed remark: "Do not accuse anyone... it is I who wanted to kill myself." This would serve as the inspiration for the screenplay penned by Schnabel, Carrière and Kugelberg. In May 2017, Schnabel announced that he would direct a film about the famed painter, with Willem Dafoe cast in the role. By September, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac, Mads Mikkelsen, Mathieu Amalric, and Emmanuelle Seigner were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and took place throughout the historical locations in France over thirty-eight days.

The film stars Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac, Mads Mikkelsen, Mathieu Amalric, and Emmanuelle Seigner. At first, Dafoe could be a little much, but that proves to be the right amount in the end.

Horrifying - but informative - tragic biography of Van Gogh, with a look at his painting technique and location filming of the places he lived. One of Schnabel's best pictures, a visually stunning portrait of Van Gogh, splendidly played by Dafoe. However, the film, attractive as it may be, never 'breaks through the iron wall' between what is felt and what is expressed, the very wall that van Gogh himself strove to overcome.

Simon says At Eternity's Gate receives: